Representative Peter Forney

Peter Forney (April 21, 1756 – February 1, 1834) was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina and an early industrialist and legislator in the state. He was born near Lincolnton, in what later became Lincoln County, North Carolina, on April 21, 1756. Raised on the Carolina frontier in the mid-eighteenth century, he attended the local public schools available in the region. His early life was shaped by the developing backcountry society of colonial North Carolina, where small-scale agriculture and emerging local industries formed the basis of the economy and where tensions with British authority would soon lead to open conflict.

During the American Revolutionary War, Forney served as a captain, reflecting both his local standing and his commitment to the Patriot cause. His military service occurred at a time when the southern theater of the war was marked by intense partisan conflict and shifting control between British and American forces. As a militia officer from the backcountry, he would have been involved in the defense of local communities and the broader struggle to secure independence in the southern colonies. This experience in wartime leadership helped establish his reputation and laid the groundwork for his later public career.

After the Revolution, Forney engaged in the manufacture of iron, becoming one of the early figures in North Carolina’s nascent iron industry. Operating in the vicinity of Lincolnton, he took advantage of the region’s natural resources to develop ironworks that contributed to local economic growth. His involvement in iron manufacturing placed him among the small but significant group of early American industrial entrepreneurs who helped move the young nation beyond a purely agrarian economy. Through this work he gained both economic influence and familiarity with the practical needs of a growing state, experience that informed his subsequent legislative service.

Forney entered public office as a member of the North Carolina House of Commons, in which he served from 1794 to 1796. In this role he participated in the state’s legislative affairs during the formative years of the federal republic, when North Carolina was adjusting to its place within the new constitutional system. He later served in the North Carolina Senate in 1801 and 1802, continuing his involvement in state governance. His service in both chambers of the General Assembly reflected the confidence placed in him by his constituents in Lincoln County and underscored his position as a leading local figure in politics as well as industry.

Building on his state legislative experience, Forney was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Thirteenth Congress, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1813, to March 3, 1815. His term coincided with the War of 1812, a period in which Congress grappled with issues of national defense, finance, and relations with Great Britain. As a Democratic-Republican, he aligned with the party of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which generally favored agrarian interests, states’ rights, and skepticism of centralized financial power. In 1814 he declined to be a candidate for reelection to the Fourteenth Congress, choosing not to extend his national legislative career beyond a single term.

After leaving Congress, Forney retired from public life and returned to his private affairs in Lincoln County. He continued to reside at his country home, “Mount Welcome,” an estate that symbolized both his personal success and his family’s standing in the region. Although he no longer held public office, his earlier contributions in war, industry, and government left a lasting imprint on his community and state. He died at Mount Welcome in Lincoln County, North Carolina, on February 1, 1834. He was interred in the private burying ground on his estate, in keeping with the customs of prominent families of the period.

Forney’s legacy extended through his descendants, who continued the family’s tradition of public service. He was the father of Daniel M. Forney, who also represented North Carolina in the United States Congress in the early nineteenth century, and the grandfather of William H. Forney, who later served as a U.S. Representative from Alabama following the Civil War. Through both his own career and that of his descendants, Peter Forney was part of a multigenerational lineage of public officials whose service spanned state and national politics over several decades.